A Scream in the Night

The plot concerns the Tear of Buddha ruby which the villain wants to get and the owner and his niece want to keep. Low budget independent film thats more than a tad creaky owing to it production rather than its story which does move along at a good clip. Certainly not a great film but it is one that over comes its limitations for a decent way to spend an hour.

Lon Chaney Jr has two roles as detective searching for a criminal mastermind and as the masterminds henchmen. Its good to see him in what would be an atypical role as a romantic leading man. Clearly the two roles was an effort to cash in on his fathers name and while its not one of the tortured roles he was well known for later in his career, he does acquit himself nicely.

Worth a look especially for Lon Chaney Jr fans.

"A Singapore bar owner and his niece come into possession of a rare ruby, 'The Tear of Buddha', which is coveted by a ruthless criminal. The criminal succeeds in taking the gem and kidnapping the niece, while two police detectives hope to close in on him. When one of the officers is killed, his partner goes undercover to find the killer, rescue the kidnapped girl, and return the stolen gem," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Lon Chaney Jr. dips into his dad's make-up bag of tricks; he plays the good-looking lead detective "Jack Wilson" and the villainous henchman of "Johnny Fly" (Manuel López), a dart-throwing and hard-drinking hulk named "Butch Curtain". Perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, Mr. Chaney is better as the relatively straight detective, especially after he switches identities with his thuggish look-alike. A fair bang, for the budget.

**** A Scream in the Night (1935) Fred C. Newmeyer ~ Lon Chaney Jr., Manuel López, Sheila Terry

Scream in the Night (1935)

* (out of 4)

Detective Jack Wilson (Lon Chaney, Jr.) is after a jewel thief in a small seaport. This was the first film where Chaney went by the name "Lon" and it's apparent he did so here to cash in on his father's memory and name. The film has a title at the start to let us know Lon Chaney, Jr. is the "star" and he's playing two roles, something his father did several times. Chaney offers up two very different roles with different results. He's actually pretty good as the detective but his scenes as the drunk are over the top and silly. As far as the film goes, it's pretty bad from start to finish. I normally get some sort of enjoyment out of these "B" mysteries but this one here is just downright awful with a bad story, weak supporting characters and horrible direction. This is without question one of the weakest mysteries I've seen. What's so shocking is that the movie runs under a hour yet it feels like three.

This item from the IMDb trivia says a LOT about this film : "Although this film was made in 1935, there is no evidence it was actually shown publicly until 1943, when Astor Pictures acquired the rights and put it out to take advantage of Lon Chaney Jr.'s subsequent stardom in horror roles for Universal."

That and , according to the posters, that the Title is SCREAM IN THE NIGHT and not A Scream in the Night.

Muddled as it is, it was interesting to see a young and enthusiastic Chaney not only finally credited but credited as Lon. Jr.

The two fights at the end of the film are a hoot ... all rolling around, missed punches and assorted hair pulling.

In A SCREAM IN THE NIGHT, police detective, Jack Wilson (Lon Chaney Jr.) is on the trail of ruthless criminal mastermind, Johnny Fly (Manuel Lopez), who is out to steal a precious ruby.

Meanwhile, romance blooms when Jack is reunited with his old flame, Edith Bentley (Sheila Terry). Jack's investigation leads him into a dark underworld, where he goes undercover as a notorious thug named Butch Curtain.

As crime dramas go, this one's enjoyable enough. Chaney does quite well in his dual role, getting to play both a good guy and a bad guy.

Vintage low-low-budget entertainment...